Noin's Past Love
by pretty in orange
Summary: A love from Noin's past returns, changing her feelings about Zechs... OCXNoin, T for possible language.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This has no canon time, mostly because I can't seem to watch enough Gundam Wing to make an accurate time slot for this. In other news, everyone who loves/likes/doesn't hate this story, thank Truish, who talked with me enough to inspire this story. Hi Truish, this one's for you.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, but I do own Jace Wildess. Please ask me if you want to use him, ok?

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><p>Noin wasn't sure where she was. She remembered the crash as her mobile suit was attacked, had a vague recollection of her head hitting something and everything going completely black.<p>

Someone was holding her hand. Who was holding her hand? She tried to force her eyelids open, but she couldn't manage it. "Zechs..." She whispered, her mouth dry.

"No, try again." The voice was cheery, bright. She almost recognized it, but she couldn't quite put her finger on who it was.

She struggled for what seemed like hours trying to get her eyes to open. When she finally did, she still couldn't place the face of the person hovering above her.

"Still don't remember?" The guy asked, still smiling at her. "That's ok, you hit your head pretty hard. What's your name, do you know it?"

"Lucrezia Noin." Noin pushed herself into a sitting position despite the intense pain in her ribcage. "Give me your name."

"Hey, my patients don't talk to their doctor that way." The guy teased. "But it's Jace Wildess. Now do you remember me?"

Noin let the name bounce around in her brain for a minute. _Jace, Jace, Jace Wildess. _Then she caught a glance of his eyes, each one had a cat-eye mark that was green in the usual brown iris.

"Jace!" Noin hugged him tightly as memories hit her full force. Jace had been her childhood friend, and though he was a year older he had always been the bright, happy one.

"There we go." Jace laughed, slipping an arm around her gently. The touch still made Noin flinch, but it was better than being ignored. "Get some rest, I'll be back in to check on you in a bit. And cheer up, I hate seeing tears in those gorgeous eyes of yours."

Noin brushed her tears away with that hand that didn't have an IV needle in it. Jace gave her a smile, kissed her forehead like he had when they were kids, and headed for the door.

Noin suddenly felt incredibly tired. Everything ached, her head was pounding, and her vision was blurry. She closed her eyes as Jace switched off the light.

Right before she started to be washed away by a wave of sleep, she realized she hadn't asked where Zechs was.

She thought she was just too tired to care.

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><p>AN: my first chapters are always short. The next ones should be longer. And yes, I do love ZechsXNoin; I just think that maybe Noin deserves a chance with someone else who isn't so jerky towards her. And I wasn't putting her with Treize. Anyway, I would love to hear from you, so leave me a review if you have time.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: It appears there was some confusion; so let me make myself clear. This is _**not **_a ZechsXNoin fanfic. This is an OCXNoin story, and that will not change. In other news, thank you to everyone who reviewed, you made my day.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, but I do own Jace Wildess. Please ask me if you want to use him, ok?

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><p>As much as she waited, Zechs didn't visit Noin.<p>

"You seem to be healing well..." Jace murmured as he checked Noin's vitals. "But you seem down, and I have time, do you want to talk?"

"Love is like a drug." Noin knitted her hands together and squeezed tightly. "When you have it, you're fine. But when you don't, it becomes a gnawing ache all it's own that eats at you. And he... he doesn't seem to care at all. I hate that I can't make him care!"

"Zechs, huh?" Jace took her hands and held them, being careful of her IV. "You know what I think?"

"You're always helpful, what _do_ you think?" Noin raised an eyebrow at her childhood friend. Jace had been the "therapist" in her group as children; he always gave advice and made sure everyone got along.

"I think..." Jace held her hands a little tighter and became solemn for once. "That he doesn't deserve you. And that you deserve better. All these years, he's been treating you like you're insignificant, right? You've made great strides in life, you're not insignificant, you're a wonderful, strong woman."

"I can't give him up." Noin whispered, squeezing Jace's hands. "I love him, even though he can be such a jackass. He deserves love, with all he's been through."

"Think about what you just said." Jace raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you really love him, or do you just think he deserves love?"

"Dr. Wildess, Ray Dane is crashing!" A nurse yelled into the room and then ran off.

"Duty calls, but we'll continue this later." Jace stood. "There's two pills on your nightstand, if you can't sleep then take them." With that, he darted out the door, gone to another patient.

Noin tried to sleep, but she couldn't manage it. Every time she tried to drift off, a memory of Zechs would pop up and suddenly she was staring at the ceiling, Jace's words ringing in her ears like a bell.

_"Do you really love him, or do you just think he deserves love?"_

Noin pressed her palms over her eyes; some things were just too hard to think about in her current state. She dry swallowed the two pills, and found herself dozing off within a matter of minutes.

_"Jace!" Eight-year-old Noin screamed as she chased after her best friend in the whole world as he walked ahead of her. Despite them only being a year apart, Jace was taller and Noin had trouble keeping up with his long legs._

_"Noin, relax, I'm not going to leave you." Jace turned and caught Noin as she tackled him. "I'm never going to leave you, ok? If I start to walk away, just say my name and I'll come back to you, always."_

_"You're so weird, Jace." Noin giggled and hugged him tightly. "But we'll always be best friends, right?"_

_A dark cloud passed over Jace's eyes, like he didn't like that idea. Noin bit her lip in panic; maybe Jace secretly hated her. But then the cloud passed and Jace smiled. "We'll be friends forever. Whatever you want, I'll be for you."_

Noin sat up, rubbing her eyes and trying to bite back the tears. Even then, something had put a damper on their relationship, even as kids that knew nothing more than their homes and friendships.

She rolled over onto her side, trying to find a way that was comfortable without tangling herself in the IV or accidentally pulling it out. With luck she might be able to fall back to sleep, but luck didn't seem to her forte lately.

"Are you awake?" Jace stepped into her room. His hair was damp and he was wearing street clothes instead of his doctor uniform. "Oh, you are. How are you feeling?"

"Like I want to tear someone open and strangle them with their own intestines." Noin punched her pillow.

"Oh, so you're in a good mood." Jace laughed at his own joke and sat beside her on her bed. "You deserve better, you know that right?"

"I hate that he'll do something nice, and then he ignores me." Noin sat up to make herself feel more like a competent person in a conversation and less like an insolent child.

"Abusive relationships are like that." Jace murmured, like he was worried about her reaction. "He'll be nice, then cruel, then nice. It keeps them confused enough that they stay."

"It's not abusive." Noin jumped to Zechs' defense, as she always had. "I just want him to love me like I love him, is that so much to ask for?"

"Yeah, sometimes it is." Jace replied.

After that, they sat together in silence.

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><p>AN: This chapter took forever too. And I changed the name of the crashing patient at least six times. I won't have all my stories updated before midnight, but it shouldn't take too long for me to get everything up. Sorry for any inconvenience. Anyway, what did you think of this chapter?


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Wow, I'm getting a positive response on this one! I'm so glad; I thought ZechsXNoin fans were going to get mad at me... Anyway, I may not be updating every day from now on. I think it's killing me; I'm not one for routine.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or make a profit from this.

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><p>"What's your name?" Noin asked the nurse, the same one who had yelled into the room about the crashing patient, as the young woman switched out Noin's IV.<p>

"Helen." The girl had to be at least a year younger than Noin, she was blue-eyed and bleach blonde and so far had almost cried three times.

"How well do you know Jace Wildess, Helen?" Noin's fingers twitched, she was trying not to scratch at a cut on her arm.

"D-Dr. Wildess?" Helen bit her lip and fumbled with the old IV bag, her face going pale. "He's... a very influential figure in this hospital, ma'am. He's very kind, but he can be very... distanced. He used to talk about a girl named Lucrezia Noin he knew as a child until... until you came he-" Helen blinked and tears came to her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Noin! I didn't know!"

"No, I'm not mad." Noin murmured, trying to soothe the girl.

Despite Noin's attempts at calming her, Helen clammed up, finished her work and ran out of the room, verging on tears.

"Noin?" A familiar masked face slipped into Noin's room. "I've been busy so I wasn't able to come earlier..."

Jace's words ran through Noin's mind as she looked up at Zechs. She didn't know what to say to Zechs anymore, she didn't deserve to be treated the way he treated her.

"Noin?" Zechs snapped her back to reality by saying her name again.

"I'm fine, Lieutenant." Noin went for the most callous voice she could muster, but instead she came off sounding like a kicked puppy.

"I said when will you be released?" Zechs asked softly, though his mind was not on her health or well-being.

"I don't know, I haven't asked." Noin prided herself on being able to say that in an indifferent tone. "Why, do you need something?"

"OZ needs you, Noin." Zechs mumbled, and Noin took note that it wasn't "I need you." or "I need to know that you're alright." It was simply that he needed her as a soldier, nothing else.

"I'm getting better." She snapped. "Thanks for asking, _Lieutenant, _but it can't be rushed."

The corner of Zechs' mouth turned down and he stood. "I'm trying, Noin." He sighed, before walking out the door.

Noin heard a girl verbally accost Zechs about lists and hippa rights, which she knew was the law about people not being on her "list" being unable to visit her in the hospital. _Heh_, she thought, _Zechs must've snuck through security to get to me. _

Noin listened to the girl chew Zechs out; saying whoever he was the law was the law.

_Serves him right then. _Noin smiled and listened to him try to calmly retaliate. "Have fun, _Lieutenant._" She smiled to herself and let the verbal fight unravel.

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><p>AN: That girl that verbally accosted Zechs will be in my next story, you'll see. I might try to get an introduction with her to Noin, but right now I'm just thinking she'll have this nice little cameo. What do you think?


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I know I said I might not update everyday, but even though it's late, I have a little time before I burn out, so I wanted to add to this. I am completely exhausted though, since I only slept a few hours and then spent all day in that blistering sun. Anyway, on with it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, or make a profit from this, but I do own Jace Wildess, so please ask if you want to use him, ok?

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><p>"If he's bothering you I can tell the security to keep him out next time." Jace murmured, holding Noin's hand. "It wouldn't be a problem."<p>

"I don't know yet..." Noin gave a little shrug. "I don't know if I don't want him to come back or not. I was just... he was such an ass. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but he was an ass."

"Just say the word if you want me to keep him out of here." Jace reached over and stroked Noin's hair. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable in your stay."

"That's the thing..." Noin sighed. "What am I going to do if I offend him? Eventually I have to go back, whether or not I'm on good terms with him."

"You're in the army, Noin." Jace smiled at her. "You're not a typical boss-worker romance where they can be outright cruel to you and get away with it. You've worked your way to where you are now."

Noin felt her bruised skin flush, and she smiled up at Jace. "Is it illegal for a doctor to date a patient?" She asked, offhand. "Just wondering."

Jace laughed, but it was his turn to blush. "That's a long and complicated list, and the truth is, I'd have to go look it up. I don't think it would be a big deal though, we're pretty casual here."

"Do you know who it was who practically jumped Zechs about the hippa rights and lists?" Noin made a vague motion out the door, towards where the accosting had happened. "I wanted to thank her for getting my payback. She really chewed him out."

"Heh," Jace laughed, and while he looked amused, he also looked embarrassed. "I know who you're talking about, I'll thank her for you."

"Thanks." Noin flashed him a smile and scratched at her IV needle. "How much longer until I can get this thing out? It's driving me insane."

"It's painkillers, so I don't think you want it out as much as you think." Jace chuckled. "You'll be in a lot more pain than you are right now if I take away your drip. Trust me, you're pretty banged up."

"From what I can see, I understand that logic." Noin surveyed her arms, where the bruises were deep and darkening with each day. "Still. I'm not the type to take things like being stuck in a hospital lying down."

"You never were." Jace chuckled, his blush fading. "Even when you broke your leg you were a spitfire on those crutches."

"Yeah." Noin smiled, it was good to know that Jace remembered those things about her. "You have a good memory, Jace." She held his hand tightly. "You wouldn't forget to visit me or leave me alone, would you?"

"Never." Jace smiled, but the smile was broken, as if he was hiding something.

But then, Noin had just one question. Where had he been all those years?

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><p>AN: It's not even late and I'm super exhausted. I may not add to this tomorrow, I have no clue about the scheduling then. Anyway, tell me what you think if you will, I enjoy that.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This is probably going to be updated less after this, mostly because it's getting harder to write and I'm already stressed and I'm trying to write more fiction. Anyway, thank you to everyone who's reading/reviewing/favoriting and putting this on alerts.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or make a profit from this.

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><p>It was the next day when something went terribly wrong.<p>

Noin was coughing up blood after walking around the hospital, and after being examined they found that one of her broken ribs had moved and punctured her stomach.

Noin was sent to surgery, but later, waking up, she found that Jace was at her side, looking panicked.

"Noin, don't move, ok?" Jace was holding her hand, and Noin could tell she was on the strong pain meds now. Everything was hazy and tended to tilt when she least expected it, so she hung on to Jace for dear life. "You have no clue how sorry I am, Noin. I'm so sorry, if we had sent you on your way earlier that could've killed you. I missed it, I can't believe I missed something so important."

"Shh." Noin squeezed his hand. "I'm ok."

Jace put his head down, and Noin could tell he was fighting tears. They were both silent for a few minutes, and then Jace wiped his eyes and said, "You deserve a better doctor."

"Don't you dare." Noin whispered. "I wouldn't trust anyone else."

"I'm sorry." Jace said again, but he had never let go of her hand. "Noin, if you had died, I don't know what I would've done."

"I'm alive. So be quiet." Noin squeezed his hand again, this time to the point of a deathgrip. The IV in her hand stung with the force of it.

"I... I can't keep this a secret anymore." Jace glanced towards the door. "I've loved you since we were children, Noin. I've never stopped loving you."

"Aren't you going to get in trouble telling me this on your shift?" Noin tossed a glance of her own at the door, her nerves getting the best of her.

"No, I knew you previously, so it's not illegal or an ethics violation." Jace stroked Noin's fingers. "I'll probably be frowned at for a while though. My point is I wanted you to know. If something happened to you and you never knew, I would never forgive myself. I love you, Noin, more than anything or anyone else in the world."

"I don't know who I love right now..." Noin murmured. "My world has been turned upside down, my crush...past crush, whatever he is now, is an asshole, and you came back into my life after three years. It's a little much to digest isn't it?"

"I need to talk to you about that, but not right now." Jace shook his head. "You need rest right now, we'll talk about this later."

"You better not be bullshitting me." Noin shot back, despite how sleepy she felt. The painkillers were taking a lot out of her, and the room still felt tilt-y.

"Later, I promise." Jace shook her pinky with his as she started to fall asleep.

Noin felt him place her hand back on the mattress and then she let sleep take her.

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><p>AN: Short chapter again. I try, I really do. But I have to do some fiction work tonight, and then hopefully go finish up Value of Silence. Zechs' story is coming up when this one is done though, for anyone who's interested. I don't know how long it will take to finish this one either. What did you think?


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I've been taking my friend's advice and being a little more relaxed on these adds, since they take more out of me. I am still adding to this, and I won't give up, but adds won't come every day likely. If you like Ouran, I am working over in that section more, with my OC Ouran stories. Anyway, let's get going here.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or make a profit from this, but I do own Jace Wildess. Please ask if you want to use him, ok?

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><p>"Where were you?" Noin was on strict bed rest, but Jace had finished his shift and returned to her side. "Those three years, I thought you had disappeared or were dead somewhere. I joined OZ because I had given up on you ever coming back and I wanted to be with the one other person I really knew, Zechs."<p>

"I couldn't say goodbye." Jace sighed and rubbed his hands together, as if he was cold despite the balmy temperature. "You know how I had that med degree, I was too smart for my own good, and a whole bunch of hospitals wanted me? I ended up coming here without telling anyone, something stupid about wanting to burn all my bridges."

"For being so medically smart you sure can be an idiot." Noin sighed. "So you wanted to start over. I get that. But what about me? We were best friends all those years and then you just up and disappeared. That was terrible."

"Well..." Jace bit his lip and sighed. "I thought, '_She'll never see me as a man, she'll only see me as her best friend. It will never work, I need to start over_'. That was my logic, really. That you would never see me as a guy, only as your friend. So I wanted to burn all my bridges." Jace paused, rubbing his eyes and looking guilty. "And you were considering joining OZ at this point, so I thought you would just move on."

"I tried to. I tried so hard." Noin brushed away her tears before they could fall and trained her eyes on the ceiling. "I had Zechs, but I became so attached to him, like a druggie waiting for her next hit of meth, because you weren't there." Noin took a breath and tried to calm herself, this wasn't her, she didn't cry. She felt like a baby lying there and crying, and she wasn't. She was a woman, as far as she was concerned. "I needed you more than anything, and I didn't have you so I substituted. And the second best never works as well."

"Yeah." Jace took a deep breath in and held it for a few seconds. "Yeah, I know. I tried too, but I could never get attached to someone like that. Every time I tried I would see your face and then it was over." He reached out and held her hand again. "I never wanted to give you up, Noin, I just wanted... you to realize that I wanted to be more than a friend."

"I know now." Noin didn't look at him, she knew she would cry if she tried that now. Woman or not, Jace crying always had that effect on her, and it had since they were kids. Jace shedding tears meant that something completely serious was happening. "I don't know, right now, who I love. Zechs being the way he is has kind of spun my heart on its head."

"I'm not surprised." Jace gave a little laugh. "He always was kind of cold."

Noin didn't feel the need the need to defend Zechs, for once. She felt reaffirmed in her need to find someone else, someone who didn't ignore her. "Yeah..." She whispered. "Yeah. He always was."

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><p>AN: Another short chapter. I really wanted to finish before I one, had to leave or two, lost my sanity from being up so long. I did manage to finish it before either. Anyway, tell me what you think, please and thank you, I'll try my best to respond to your review in a timely fashion.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I'm trying to write this super late so I don't need to deal with it later today. This is the end of this story, but when this is done I'll be preparing to start Zechs' story, which I don't have a title for.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or make a profit from this, but I do own Jace and Brooke Wildess. Please ask if you want to use him, ok?

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><p>"You can't see her right now, visiting hours are over." Jace sighed to the blonde, masked man in front of him. "I'm sorry, but she's resting and visiting hours just ended thirty minutes ago."<p>

"Surely you can make an exception..." Zechs kept his tone completely even. He was sure he could win Jace over; he seemed too softhearted to deny Noin a visitor, especially _him._ Noin must've talked about him, right? She wanted to see him, despite their little tiff the time before, correct?

"She doesn't want to see you." Jace spat, finally losing his patience with the younger man. "You've treated her terribly, and she's sick of it."

"Why don't we let her decide that?" Zechs started for the door to Noin's room, but Jace blocked his path.

"She's resting, do you have no shame?" Jace glared at Zechs until even the OZ lieutenant had to back up a step. "She almost died, Zechs. She needs her rest."

"Then I'll wait." Zechs took a seat in the empty waiting room and fixed Jace with an icy look. "I'm sure she wants to see me, after all, she does love me."

"She's realized that there are better people out there for her." Jace growled, suddenly very happy that his shift had ended so he could take up defending Noin. "Ones that don't treat her like something they stepped in until they want something from her."

Zechs was silent for a moment, and then he walked away and towards the exit.

"He's an ass." Brooke, Jace's younger sister, walked over to her brother and shook her head. "He walks in here like he freaking owns the place and acts like he can get anything he wants. Frustrates the hell out of me."

"You interested?" Jace shot back, simply because he knew his sister well.

"Eh, nice bod, bad attitude." Brooke shrugged. "We'll see."

Jace rolled his eyes and slumped into a waiting room chair. "I can't keep him away from Noin forever." He heaved a sigh. "She'll have to go back to work eventually, and I don't know what will happen after that."

"Want me to go with them?" Brooke raised an eyebrow at her brother. "I'm sure they could use another doctor on site, especially since Noin likely won't be fully healed when she goes back to work. I can handle the blonde jerk, I've done it before."

"You're a good sister." Jace gave Brooke a smile. "The best anyone could ask for."

"I need a way out of here anyway." The girl brushed it off. "You giving me the tools to get there is just the icing on the cake. But I can handle Zechs, he's not that hard to deal with."

"Go for it. I'll make the arrangements." Jace yawned a jaw-cracking yawn and stood. "I'm going to go sleep in the on call room. Have fun on your shift."

"Will do." Brooke watched her brother walk away. "Thanks for giving me a chance with the blonde jerk, J." She muttered as she went to check on her next patient.

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><p>It took a few months, but Noin got as close as she was going to get to tip-top shape. Jace had managed to make the arrangements, and Brooke was to go with Noin and keep an eye on her health, as well as the other soldiers.<p>

As the girls said their goodbyes, Noin and Jace finally had their long-awaited kiss, while Brooke stood by and made a face.

"Like you're any better." Jace laughed as Brooke wandered away.

"We'll keep in touch." Noin murmured, tipping her forehead to Jace's.

"Yes." Jace gave her a bob of his head without ever breaking the contact.

"That wasn't a question." Noin laughed despite herself. "But thank you for the reassurance. I'll call you the first chance I get."

"Wait..." Jace murmured, turning her back to him for one more kiss.

"Could you make out a little more?" Brooke asked, adamant to get going. "I don't think all the staffers have seen you sucking face yet!"

Jace and Noin separated, laughing too hard to kiss anymore.

As they said their final goodbyes, Noin thought of something else funny. Her past love was no longer her _past_ love, now, he was just her love.

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><p>AN: And we're done. I didn't plan to do that, but then I figured it would work and I could start on Zechs' story, which as you can tell is kind of a continuation of this story. So, what did you think?


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